Sell surplus
Sell side streams and co-products as raw materials
What comes off the end of your line is another processor's input material. Press cake, trimmings, whey, pomace, spent grain: we find the market for it — including for continuous volumes.
Side stream does not mean waste
In almost every food production a second stream arises alongside the main product: press cake from oil and juice extraction, whey from the dairy, spent grain from the brewery, trimmings from portioning, peels and kernels from fruit and vegetable processing, sediment and filter residues. Economically these are co-products, not waste — as long as they are treated and documented as such.
The difference is substantial. A stream declared as waste costs a disposal fee. The same stream managed as a co-product, captured separately and analysed, has a market price — in feed production, in further processing, in some cases in ingredient extraction.
Side streams differ from one-off surpluses in one point: they arise regularly. That makes them plannable and particularly attractive to buyers, because a supply relationship can be built on them instead of a one-off deal — which in turn shows up in the price.
In practice
Streams we trade regularly
The list is not exhaustive. If your stream does not appear here, that does not mean there is no market:
Press cake and extraction residues
From oil and juice extraction: rapeseed, sunflower, linseed, grape, apple, carrot. High residual protein or fibre content — and therefore a fixed part of feed recipes.
Whey and dairy side streams
Sweet and acid whey, permeates, retentates. Depending on dry matter and processability, very different value — from mere disposal avoidance to a decent revenue.
Trimmings and broken goods
From portioning, cutting, baking, extrusion: edge pieces, breakage, misshapes. Identical in content to the main product, just not saleable in the target form — and thus often placeable back into the food chain.
Peels, kernels, pomace
From fruit and vegetable processing. Increasingly in demand not only as feed but also as source material for fibres, oils and extracts.
Spent grain, sediment and filter residues
From breweries, distilleries and beverage production. Large, regular volumes with an established circle of buyers — the classic case for a framework agreement.
Utilisation routes
Where side streams go
The utilisation route decides the order of magnitude of the revenue — and almost always hangs on purity:
- 1
Feed industry
The largest channel. Compound feed producers plan side streams firmly into their recipes and pay by nutritional value — dry matter, protein, fat, fibre. Reliable, plannable, with clear price logic.
- 2
Food further processing
Trimmings and breakage frequently go back into the food chain: as an ingredient in fillings, bars, baking mixes or convenience products. The highest-value route for everything that still has food quality.
- 3
Extraction and ingredient recovery
Pomace, peels and kernels yield fibres, oils, colourants and extracts. The highest revenues sit here, but the circle of buyers is small and the requirements for purity and documentation are demanding.
- 4
Energy recovery
Biogas as the fallback for streams with no material route — better than disposal, but the weakest of the realistic options.
Pricing
What determines the price
With side streams the revenue is largely decided in your production, not at the negotiating table:
- Nutritional profile: dry matter, protein, fat and fibre — feed buyers calculate on exactly this
- Purity: separately captured streams achieve a multiple of mixed streams
- Regularity and plannable volume — a continuous stream is worth considerably more than a one-off batch
- Moisture content and storage stability, because wet streams have to move fast or be stabilised
- Distance to the nearest buyer, since transport weighs heavily on low-value goods
- Existing analyses and documented origin
What are your goods worth?
Request a free, non-binding price estimate — or call us directly if time is short.
The two levers that really change the revenue
Separate as early as possible. A stream that first meets others in the collection container is practically no longer marketable. Separate capture directly at the line is the biggest single lever for the revenue — bigger than any negotiation over the price.
Manage the stream as a co-product from the start, not as waste. The classification affects documentation, permissible utilisation routes and price, and is hard to correct in hindsight.
For use as feed, separate requirements apply to origin, traceability and excluded materials. We clarify this before the first deal and set up the necessary documentation together with you.
For regular volumes a framework agreement beats individual sales: plannable for you, reliable for the buyer — and as a rule at a better price.
FAQ
Side streams & co-products – frequently asked questions
Other types of surplus
What else we buy
Off-spec goods
Batches outside the agreed specification — analysis values, sensory attributes, particle size, labelling.
Learn moreShort-dated & expired BBD
Goods with a short remaining shelf life or an exceeded best-before date.
Learn moreOverproduction & cancellations
Flawless goods without a buyer — sold off without disturbing your own market.
Learn more